Live streaming is rising overseas, and new functions such as Facebook are being introduced to "empower" cross-border e-commerce

Live streaming with goods is the general trend of e-commerce marketing, and the outbreak of COVID-19 has promoted the development of live streaming. In the past few months, almost all major US social media platforms have expanded their live-streaming and on-demand capabilities to facilitate the integration of social media platforms and e-commerce.

This article summarizes some innovative measures taken by mainstream social media platforms in live broadcasting of goods:

Facebook: Facebook launched Live Shopping back in August 2020, allowing businesses to sell their products in real time while interacting with shoppers Live. This year, Facebook launched "Live Shopping Fridays." During that time, ecommerce sellers will be able to display their products through Facebook's live shopping feature. In the live stream, customers can click on the relevant product to learn more about the product, add the product to their shopping cart, and then check out to buy.

Instagram: The platform debuted real-time shopping for merchants using Instagram Checkout, its in-app payment system, in May 2020. In March, Instagram launched Live Rooms, a livestreaming product that allows three anchors to share deliveries in the same studio.

Pinterest: In late May 2021, Pinterest held its first in-app live event, with 21 content creators as hosts. Viewers can interact with anchors through comments and buy products promoted by e-commerce sellers during the live stream.

TikTok: Following its pilot live shopping program in December 2020, TikTok partnered with Walmart to host a second live shopping event on the platform in March 2021. Wal-Mart has yet to provide sales figures for the first live streaming event, but public data suggest that the retailer actually saw seven times as many views as expected in March, and that its TikTok account had a 25% increase in followers.

Looking beyond China to the world market, live with goods is still in its infancy. With the expansion and improvement of functions, live streaming is expected to become a major driver of e-commerce sales growth. In a survey conducted by GlobalWebIndex for Q4 2020, 22% of US and UK live viewers reported that offering a "buy" button during a live broadcast was the biggest purchase driver.

2021.7.13